Daily Observations from the Regional Round
Regional Friday
It’s an annual holiday for baseball fans, regional weekend has finally arrived. Think on this: across the next four days somewhere between the required 96 and 112 potential ballgames will be played across the county. If you love this game, it is music to your ears. If any of the regional sites are within reach, it’s a chance to catch 6 or 7 of those battles for yourself as a part of what should be a very entertaining weekend.
While it provides so much joy and demands so much passion, baseball is just a game. The game instantly becomes secondary when the the type of sad and tragic news which came this week for a couple of clubs puts things in perspective. The baseball world mourns the loss of nineteen year old Vanderbilt pitcher Donny Everett, as well as, long time Minnesota pitching coach Todd Oakes. Certainly the thoughts of everyone involved in this game in any way go out these families and the communities so uniquely and personally touched by their lives and and their passing.
Day One serves as a reminder that any focus on heavyweight Super showdowns must wait. While “wait and see what happens, because anything can happen” seems like a basic appeal to common sense, the natural tendency for anyone with a bracket in hand requires a glance forward to a some very appealing potential Super Regional matchups on the Road To Omaha. However, as usual, the day one results provided a dose of “regional reality” which put any thoughts in that direction quickly on ice. Florida vs Florida State, South Carolina vs Clemson, Texas A&M vs TCU, UL-Laffeyette vs Mississippi State and Vanderbilt vs Louisville are all potential top seed pairings carefully crafted by the NCAA selection committee. Before setting your travel plans in stone for next weekend, consider that SEC powers South Carolina and Vanderbilt lost right out of the gate, while national seeds Miami and Texas A&M were pushed to the brink in their respective openers. These are solid reminders of the simplest truths, that “Regionals precede Super Regionals” and the best laid plans can often go out the window immediately after the first pitch is thrown. It’s a pretty safe bet that these next few days of baseball still have a number of key surprises left.
Regional Saturday
The field is beginning to dwindle. 15 Teams have been eliminated from the 64 team field, highlighted by two of the seven SEC host schools. The Ole Miss Rebels and aforementioned Vanderbilt Commodores (an athletic family facing challenges which are far greater than anything related to the secondary baseball element) are among the highly regarded teams already bounced from the tournament following the first day of elimination contests.
Weather continues to leave its mark on adjusted regional schedules, especially in the western-most locations. Why were only fifteen (and not the usual 16) teams dispatched as part of elimination Saturday? Weather. Ten of the sixteen regionals have been impacted by weather in some way. A twelve hour rain delay in Lafayette, Louisiana wreaked havoc on the schedule in Ragin Cajun land. Still, the LSU regional in Baton Rouge has experienced the worst of it. As a result, all four teams are still alive on the Bayou with two clubs (Rice and Southeastern Louisiana) still looking to complete their initial game of tournament play.
Speaking of the limited action west of the Mississippi, West Coast clubs are making their presence known- as expected. You had the feeling the the limited number of teams from the Pacific region would be playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Whether it was the regional snub, long travel requirements, or simply what has likely been perceived as a general lack of respect for the current state of west coast baseball, this is a group which seems to collectively feel they have something to prove. So far, so good. Clubs like Santa Barbara, Long Beach St, Gonzaga, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and Cal St Fullerton have all picked up wins and fared well enough to remain in position to make some noise moving forward.
The Eight National Seeds have preformed well for the most part across the first two days. Clemson became the only national seed to suffer a loss across the tournament’s first two days, falling at the hands of Oklahoma State in a second round game. The other seven national seeds are a combined 13-0 thus far.
As always, there are a few surprises heading into Sunday. As teams claimed control of regional play Saturday, a handful of Super Regional hopefuls emerged as this year’s early surprises. Non-top seeded teams in the drivers seat of their respective brackets are: Coastal Carolina (Raleigh), Boston College (Oxford), East Carolina (Charlottesville), Oklahoma State (Clemson), UNC-Wilmington (Columbia). Each of these teams has punched a ticket to the regional final and must be beaten twice on Sunday and Monday by the eventual survivor on the elimination side of the bracket.
Regional Sunday
Over half the field is in place for the Super Regional round. 10 regional winners were unbeaten, posting perfect 3-0 records to advance. With Sunday’s results, 3 pairings are set for next weekend. Top overall national seed Florida will face rival Florida State in Gainesville. Texas A&M will host the lone star showdown with TCU in a rematch of last year’s thrilling Super held in Fort Worth. Miami hosts conference rival Boston College. The Eagles will be making their Super Regional debut in South Florida, with the matchup assuring the ACC of at least one team in Omaha. The four other teams to clinch Super Regional berths were Louisville, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State and East Carolina. These schools await Monday’s results to learn of their opponent.
There will be a new national title matchup for the first time since 2013. With the departure of the defending National Champs, the college baseball world is now assured of an all new Championship Series matchup. Virginia followed Vanderbilt with a quick exit from their home regional following a loss at the hands of in-state rival William & Mary on Sunday. The Cavaliers and Commodores played for the title each of the last two years, trading NCAA Championships.
Clemson becomes the first National Seed to exit. The Tigers were awarded a home regional and the seventh overall seed following impressive play during the ACC’s year-end round robin event which closed out the season. Despite scoring thirty-nine runs in two games against Western Carolina, they could not solve the mystery of Oklahoma State pitching (the Tigers were held to just two runs in each loss). The other seven National Seeds are still alive, with five (including the top 4) having already advanced to Supers. In order to keep all other National Seeds in tact, Texas Tech will need a win against DBU in a winner take all second championship game, while LSU simply must remain strong in the wether delayed Baton Rouge regional.
13 teams awake in search of 6 remaining Super Regional spots on Monday. The aforementioned Patriots of DBU joined South Carolina in forcing winner-take-all championships games in their respective regionals. Weather pushed back scheduling in the other four regional finals. Rice and Southeastern Louisiana will begin the day with an elimination game for the right to take a final shot at LSU. The other regional title battles for today include: NC State vs unbeaten Coastal Carolina in Raleigh, Arizona vs unbeaten host Louisiana-Laffayette and Xavier vs unbeaten UC-Santa Barbara in Nashville. Weather permitting, Monday’s results will leave only 16 college baseball teams standing in the pursuit of Omaha.
Regional Monday – (in this case Monday-Tuesday)
As is so often the situation in baseball, 3 became the operable number. 1) Just that many spots still remained in the Super Regional round when the curtain dropped, or perhaps more appropriately once the rain fell on Monday night. 2) Three regionals in the past decade had required a Tuesday game to settle the winner, the same number of games were pushed to Tuesday to complete the field this season. Between a trio of capitol cities (Raleigh, NC, Columbia, SC and Baton Rouge, LA) action was extended one more day. It would be the Gamecocks and Tigers advancing out of their own SEC hosted regionals. As for the other… 3) Three was also the total number of days it took for NC State and Coastal Carolina to complete an absolute classic of a Regional Final matchup. The Chanticleers won the spot in dramatic fashion, at one point down to their final strike and ultimately needing an extended rain delay to set the stage for a four run ninth inning comeback, the club from South Carolina’s coast took down the regional hosts to advance.
7 of 8 national seeds advanced to the Super Regional round. After all the regionals were completed, Clemson stood as the only National Seed to be dispatched in the opening round. Seven of the sixteen Supers will be hosted by those still in place, including the Florida-Florida state and Texas A&M-TCU showdowns
13 of the 16 remaining schools are from the “Power Conferences.” The ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac 12 all have representatives . 5 of the 7 SEC host schools survived and advanced. The ACC’s contingency was cut in half (from 10 teams to 5), though the Miami-BC Super Regional will assure the conference of at least one team in Omaha. How about the Big 12? A perfect 3 for 3 in the regional round as National Seed Texas Tech advanced alongside both TCU (at home) and Oklahoma State (over Clemson).